About Me

I love being a career and personal coach, hosting Work with Marty Nemko on KALW-FM, a National Public Radio affiliate in San Francisco, and being a regular contributor to TIME.com and PsychologyToday.com.
My latest book, my 8th is "The Best of Marty Nemko."
Wikipedia has an entry on me with all the gory details: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Nemko.
Some of my best recent work appears on this blog but my 3,000 previously published writings and the archive of my radio show are free on www.martynemko.com.
If you would rather email me than post your comments on this blog, my email address is mnemko@comcast.net.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Think time-effectiveness. Don't do the task the fastest way. Don't do it the most thorough way. Do it the way that will yield the most benefit per minute.

Choose your gear. For each task, consciously decide whether to do it in first gear (slow and careful,) 2nd gear (moderate,) or 3rd gear (fast and less careful.)

Default to doing the task rather than putting it on your to-do list. I do that with most of my sub-five-minute tasks.

Know what matters to your boss: Ask, "What's priority?" and "How can I make your life easier?"

Use sponge time. Most days have lots of time bits you can sponge up and get work done: when a meeting starts late, in line at the supermarket, during your commute, etc. When I'm driving, I often think about a project, taking notes on my omnipresent memo pad.

Telecommute? Ask for permission to telecommute if, considering the time saved in not commuting, you'll be more efficient.

Don't be too proud to ask for help. Where feasible, ask forhelp with too-hard work or when there's simply too much.